Sports

Rams receiver Rashard Higgins taking the next step

Consistency key to sophomore's improvement

Colorado State receiver Rashard Higgins aims to build off an impressive freshman season, where he led the team with 68 catches for 837 yards. (Steve Stoner / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

FORT COLLINS — There wasn't much to scoff at for a first season.

The bottom line of Rashard Higgins' freshman campaign at Colorado State was pretty good — 68 catches, 837 yards, six touchdowns. It was enough of an impression he was named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list heading into Year Two.

Coaches — and more specifically, the player — know there is more to a story than the bottom line. As head coach Jim McElwain pointed out, there were the plays that could have been made which could have produced a more spectacular season.

"I think he's been able to see the film where there's indications where he probably left about 17 catches on the field last year had he paid attention to detail," McElwain said. "Yet, that's part of growing up."

That's what his teammates have seen from him in the offseason, a player more in tune with some of the finer points in the game that can make a player better. He comes with physical gifts already. At 6-foot-2, 188 pounds, Higgins can run and has shown the ability to elude tacklers in open space, be it with a move or through use of a stiff arm. He did tie the freshman record with 10 catches against Boise State and set the freshman mark with 156 receiving yards against UTEP.

Yet when a route calls for a receiver to go out 12 yards, it throws off the timing when he only strays to 8 yards.

Those are the things that show up on tape.

Advertisement

"I feel good now, because I have to give a shout-out to coach (Alvis) Whitted," Higgins said. "He pushes us every day to make sure we do everything correct. It's paying attention to details, which Coach Mac preaches about. Pushing a route to 12 yards instead of 15 was what I did last year. I see what I did, so now I'm progressing, so I'm pushing my route to 16 and coming back to 15. It's little things like that."

He and quarterback Garrett Grayson have put in plenty of extra hours to improve their timing, but Higgins' improved practice habits are by far the most helpful.

Grayson knows Higgins struggled a bit last year, mostly early on, but the thinks the biggest gains his favorite target from a season ago has made comes between the ear holes in his helmet. The playbook is coming more natural to him, allowing the physical gifts to shine even more.

"The biggest thing I think for me was noticing he's not thinking during his routes. He's just playing, running the routes and playing football," Grayson said. "It was something I noticed early on was if it was a 10-yard route, he was wondering if it was a speed cut. Now you can tell he's just out there, focused and ready to go, every route is crisp. That helps me obviously. It helps our timing, everything."

Focus is a key word for Higgins. He said all the drops he had last year, especially in the first half, all came down to losing his train of thought, not focusing on the ball and bringing it in.

This camp, on a suggestion from fellow receiver Robert Ruiz, he's not wearing gloves. He is working on his ball skills without them in camp, gaining more confidence in his pass-receiving ability.

"He's doing a little bit more. I see him trying to get better," cornerback DeAndre Elliott said. "He's staying after practice to catch more balls, he's on the Jugs (machine) more. I feel he's more into it than his freshman year. He knows the playbook more. I guess he's maturing more as a player.

"It's making him a better competitor, a tougher player to go against. He's coming along pretty good."

When game time arrives, Higgins said the gloves will come back on and he fells he'll be even more confident.

Not that confidence is short for a player whose nickname is 'Hollywood.'

"I feel like I can be much better. The way I see it is I had 60-some catches last year," Higgins said. "If I wouldn't have started the year off with the drops I had, I could have had 80. I could have put myself in a better position.

Those types of honors require the proper steps, and Higgins said he's making sure to take them, be it running the precise route or setting up a block. He said he now understands how the little things add up over the course of a season.

It's a start, and even now, he's off to a better one, McElwain said.

"I was very, very excited the other day. It's a little detail, but he actually helped a guy get lined up," McElwain said. "He was always the guy they were helping get lined up. To me, that's a step in the right direction and he needs to continue to grow with that."